Yoshiaki Tsutsumi

A Japanese developer again topped a list of the world's richest people, but this year's billionaire tally has one conspicuous deletion: Donald J. Trump. Despite the New York developer's financial troubles, the United States continues to contain the world's largest number of billionaires--62--according to Forbes magazine. In addition, there are 37 U.S. families with fortunes over $1 billion, Forbes said in its July 23 issue.

One is the illegitimate son of a wealthy industrialist. The foundation of another's fortune was a long-ago U.S.-backed loan. A third is a notorious high-stakes gambler liable to risk millions of dollars in a day at the racetrack, while yet another furnishes his house in plastic. A capitalist who backed a revolution is on the list, as is a refugee from communism who is now devoting much of his energy to courting his giant Communist neighbors.

One is the illegitimate son of a wealthy industrialist. The foundation of another's fortune was a long-ago U.S.-backed loan. A third is a notorious high-stakes gambler liable to risk millions of dollars in a day at the racetrack, while yet another furnishes his house in plastic. A capitalist who backed a revolution is on the list, as is a refugee from communism who is now devoting much of his energy to courting his giant Communist neighbors.

A Japanese developer again topped a list of the world's richest people, but this year's billionaire tally has one conspicuous deletion: Donald J. Trump. Despite the New York developer's financial troubles, the United States continues to contain the world's largest number of billionaires--62--according to Forbes magazine. In addition, there are 37 U.S. families with fortunes over $1 billion, Forbes said in its July 23 issue.

A Japanese billionaire is considering buying the Seattle Mariners, says American liaison Cappy Harada, who represents a group of Seattle residents who want to keep the team in their town. "I am optimistic that if approached right, a deal can be struck," said Harada, who was reached by telephone in Tokyo. Harada said he had talked with Hiroshi Yamaguchi, managing director of the Seibu Corp. and top assistant to corporation chairman and billionaire Yoshiaki Tsutsumi.

America's 400 richest people are worth $220 billion--a whopping 41% jump from last year and enough money to wipe out the 1986 U.S. budget deficit, Forbes magazine reports. No. 1 on the list for the third year is retail king Sam M. Walton, whose assets from his Wal-Mart discount stores nearly doubled to $8.5 billion. That is more than the gross national product of many Third World countries. Walton is one of 49 billionaires to top the list, nearly twice as many as appeared there last year.

--William Schreiber has a one-track mind when it comes to trains. He loves them, and for years collected models. So it seems only natural that he should make his home in a 1912 railroad car. "I first thought I could get myself a mobile home, and then I said to myself, 'Why not get the ultimate and buy the original mobile home?' " said Schreiber, 70, who lives with his German shepherd, Hexie, in Marion, Ill.

Taikichiro Mori is reputed to be the second-richest man in the world. But one would never know it. Last year, the quiet, 85-year-old real estate magnate came in second on Forbes magazine's list of the world's richest men with assets estimated at $18 billion, mostly fabulously expensive real estate in central Tokyo. But Mori, who retains the air of the college professor he was until 30 years ago, does not spend lavishly. He does not collect the objects the Japanese wealthy usually spend money on--antique tea ceremony bowls or expensive cars--and lives in a modest Tokyo apartment that one employee described as very ordinary.

While a student in the late 1940s at Tokyo University, Seiji Tsutsumi enraged his capitalist father by demonstrating on behalf of left-wing causes. He paid a hefty price. When father Yasujiro died in 1964, he left the bulk of his real estate and transportation empire to Seiji's reportedly illegitimate half-brother Yoshiaki, whom Forbes magazine has identified as the world's richest man.

The Walton family of Wal-Mart renown ranked as the world's richest this year with a fortune totaling $23.6 billion, Forbes magazine reports. Japanese hotel and railroad magnate Yoshiaki Tsutsumi was the richest individual, according to the magazine's annual ranking of billionaires, released Monday. Taken together, the billionaires--both families and individuals--have become a less-exclusive group, with their ranks swelling by 47 to 358 from a year ago, the magazine says in its July 18 issue.

Taikichiro Mori is reputed to be the second-richest man in the world. But one would never know it. Last year, the quiet, 85-year-old real estate magnate came in second on Forbes magazine's list of the world's richest men with assets estimated at $18 billion, mostly fabulously expensive real estate in central Tokyo. But Mori, who retains the air of the college professor he was until 30 years ago, does not spend lavishly. He does not collect the objects the Japanese wealthy usually spend money on--antique tea ceremony bowls or expensive cars--and lives in a modest Tokyo apartment that one employee described as very ordinary.

While a student in the late 1940s at Tokyo University, Seiji Tsutsumi enraged his capitalist father by demonstrating on behalf of left-wing causes. He paid a hefty price. When father Yasujiro died in 1964, he left the bulk of his real estate and transportation empire to Seiji's reportedly illegitimate half-brother Yoshiaki, whom Forbes magazine has identified as the world's richest man.

America's 400 richest people are worth $220 billion--a whopping 41% jump from last year and enough money to wipe out the 1986 U.S. budget deficit, Forbes magazine reports. No. 1 on the list for the third year is retail king Sam M. Walton, whose assets from his Wal-Mart discount stores nearly doubled to $8.5 billion. That is more than the gross national product of many Third World countries. Walton is one of 49 billionaires to top the list, nearly twice as many as appeared there last year.

--William Schreiber has a one-track mind when it comes to trains. He loves them, and for years collected models. So it seems only natural that he should make his home in a 1912 railroad car. "I first thought I could get myself a mobile home, and then I said to myself, 'Why not get the ultimate and buy the original mobile home?' " said Schreiber, 70, who lives with his German shepherd, Hexie, in Marion, Ill.

A Japanese billionaire is considering buying the Seattle Mariners, says American liaison Cappy Harada, who represents a group of Seattle residents who want to keep the team in their town. "I am optimistic that if approached right, a deal can be struck," said Harada, who was reached by telephone in Tokyo. Harada said he had talked with Hiroshi Yamaguchi, managing director of the Seibu Corp. and top assistant to corporation chairman and billionaire Yoshiaki Tsutsumi.

Bill Gates ranks as the world's richest private citizen with an $18 billion fortune from his Microsoft Corp. software empire, but a growing number of Asian billionaires are gaining on him, Forbes magazine reports. In the magazine's annual billionaires ranking released Sunday, Forbes estimated Gates' worth grew 40% from $12.9 billion last year, making him the wealthiest billionaire for the second straight year. The increase was due largely to the higher value of Microsoft stock. No.

Yoshiaki Tsutsumi, the head of Japan's Seibu Railway Group, is the world's richest person for the second straight year, Forbes magazine said Thursday. Tsutsumi, 54, has a personal net worth of at least $18.9 billion, Forbes estimated in a report on the richest people outside the United States. Forbes estimated his fortune at about $20 billion last fall in its first survey. The designation again puts Forbes at odds with Fortune magazine.